Avid followers of this blog will have observed that Team Cycle Poland 2012 endured Day 4 in torrential rain. So it was with some trepidation that the team awoke early on Day 5 to a mountain valley shrouded in cloud. An early morning breakfast was spent downing hot coffee as skin was reintroduced to damp lycra (despite having had to pay our kind hosts extra to put the heating on, sopping kit had not fully dried which made getting dressed especially pleasurable).

A steep descent from the hotel guaranteed that the residents of Krynica were awoken by a shrill screeching from our brake pads, however, this moment of pleasure was short-lived as we soon began a non-descript climb through non-descript Polish cloud. Reader, my mind has blanked out this section of the day and the next moment I can remember is a glorious descent into Slovakia beneath lifting clouds and past picturesque valleys, ancient villages and snoozing border guards. It was on this descent that Dave Anderson broke a land speed record (his) by clocking 46.5 mph on his techy gadget thing.

A puncture (Charlie Reid’s rear tyre) in our first major Slovak town brought us back to earth with a bump. Despite Ewa and Sam’s valiant assistance, the first replacement inner tube split almost instantaneously – so much for Ewa’s cheap tat – a twice patched inner saved the day and remains inflated as I write. The consequence of the puncture was that the main group peleton was some 25 minutes ahead of Ewa, Sam and Charlie. So began the epic chase across Slovakia; the sun came out and the three comrades bashed out 50 odd kilometres in record time to reach the front of the group as it reached the Polish border (conveniently located at the top of a long rutted hill frequented by excessively fast HGVs).

After a random road-side lunch, where several team members snoozed over their food, the team made great pace as the sun finally returned to south-eastern Poland. We cruised through valleys filled with lush meadows knee-deep with yellow and purple flowers. Cappucino coloured cows lowed; dogs barked aggressively as is standard across Poland. The road wove its way between verdant hills and deer bounded across the open farmland.

The bucolic idyll was sustained as we hauled into Komancza – past the ornate wooden Orthodox church in the back end of nowhere. Our agro-turystyka accommodation consisted of 4 wooden cottages in a field (think Little House on the Prairie) with a surprisingly good hot water supply. Dinner was held in the owner’s house – down the hill and on the left – and we were literally squeezed into a kitchen with fetching embroidered horses on the wall. The food was absolutely delicious: carrot stuffed pork is an absolute winner (as Dave can vouch).

It was at this point that we said farewell to Jez, whose 2012 cycling efforts have been curtailed by a wedding back home. Rousing speeches were made, tears shed, yawns stifled as Jez’s curtain-call drew on. A very shiny medal was presented and we all cheered. We would have sung but we were in someone’s house and it felt rude. It was also the last night for Renata and Ania, who had joined us for the day from Krynica.

A reduced team climbed the hill back to their shacks for an early night in preparation for Day 6...